by R. Getsee
“It would be cool for us all to go together, but we need to keep final numbers open though, 'cause not all of us have dates yet.” I was glad that Emi spoke up before I had to say it.
Jared flushed and cleared his throat quietly. “Yeah, about that… I was kind of hoping that you’d go with me?”
Emi smirked. “Took you long enough,” she said with a wink before she leaned over to kiss him lightly on the cheek. “I’d love to.”
Everyone at the table chuckled at the blush that spread over Jared’s face as he lightly touched where a slight smudge of pink lipstick remained on his jaw.
“It’s about damn time! We were getting sick of the sexual tension between you guys,” Aiden chortled, thumping my brother on the back lightly. “Now that Jared asked his girl, you know that means you have to ask yours now, Rome.”
Roman glared at Aiden as his smirk widened into a full-blown grin. “I’m waiting for the right time.”
My stomach clenched. I’d forgotten about the mystery girl that he was planning to ask to the dance and looked to Moira, who had subtly leaned forward, the low scoop of the red silk shirt she wore drawing everyone’s attention to her two best assets.
“So who’s the lucky girl, hmm?” she practically purred, running her hand up his arm.
I clenched my fingers around my seat, forcing myself to look away before I did something stupid like stab my fork through her hand. The only thing that calmed the racing jealousy that was turning my blood to acid was the fact that he looked almost as uncomfortable as I was.
He slid his hand out from hers, his shoulders a rigid line. “You’ll find out soon enough.”
I jumped up as the bell rang, silently thanking whatever god was watching over me for the excuse to escape the tension that was oozing over the table.
Emi grabbed my arm as I scrambled to gather my things, getting my attention. “Hey, do you want to go dress shopping with me after school? We’re going to need some kick ass dresses for this thing.”
“Sure.” I smiled as I swallowed my envy. Emi was my best friend, and I wouldn’t bring her mood down just because the guy I was crushing on barely acknowledged my existence. I would be supportive if it was the last thing I did.
12
Alex
After spending the rest of the day discussing what colors worked best on us, the accessories and shoes we needed to get, and the style of dresses we were going to buy, I was exhausted and dreading the Emi-fueled shopping trip.
Looking over at Ryan, my lab partner, I caught him trying to subtly look down my shirt. It was a cute blue chiffon blouse with a black leather corset-style belt that cinched in my waist and gave a little lift to the girls.
Glancing down, I noticed that the top button had popped open, revealing a little more cleavage than I wanted, and I sighed as I went to fix it.
“Hey,” I asked, making him snap his head up and wipe the corner of his mouth as if checking for drool, “can I ask you a question?”
“What’s up?” He leaned back, trying to look like he hadn’t been caught.
“Well, guys seem to be constantly checking me out, but no one ever approaches me about it. I was just wondering why that was?” I said in a rush.
Ryan was silent, and I realized how desperate I must have sounded. I ducked my head in mortification, aware that I may have just committed social suicide.
“Look, Alex, you’re seriously hot, but—” he started, and I looked back at him.
“No, I wasn’t hitting on you,” I said quickly, my cheeks burning.
He grinned as he continued, “But someone in the school has made an official claim that no one in school is allowed to go near you until you deny it.”
I blinked in shock. Vampire mates were incredibly rare, but if you believed that you found yours, you could make a claim on them. It wasn’t like the whole soulmates thing, just a deep connection you felt to a person. If you made a claim, then no one who knew about it could try to interfere unless the claim was denied. The person who issued the claim was also not allowed to pursue anyone else or the claim would be considered void.
“Who is it?” I asked, dumbfounded.
“Sorry, Alex, I’ve been sworn to secrecy. I like how my face looks the way it is, sans the rearranging it would get if I interfered.” Ryan looked at me with a pleading expression and I dropped it.
I spent the rest of the class in a stupor, wondering who the hell in the school liked me enough to make a claim. My traitorous mind leaped to Roman, but I quelled the hope that bubbled up. He liked someone else, and obviously, someone in the school didn’t only think of me as Jared’s baby sister. It was time I moved on.
I pulled into the underground parking lot of the mall beside Emi’s sleek convertible. The girl was like a pixie on crack as she snatched my door open before I even had a chance to kill the engine.
Already talking a mile a minute, I had to squeeze the bridge of my nose to try to get rid of the migraine that was already starting to form.
“Okay, before we do anything, I need coffee.” I held my hands up in surrender, pleasantly surprised as she pushed a hot takeaway cup into my open hands.
“Please, I know you well enough by now.” She winked. “I got you, babe.”
I sighed out a moan as I sipped on the cinnamon mocha—the spicy, sweet syrup already working to bring up my energy levels. “Thank God for caffeine. I would not be able to last a day without you.” I lovingly stroked my finger down the side of the cup.
“Damn girl, your love of coffee is something to be admired and feared,” Emi said as she hooked her arm through mine and we started to walk toward the elevator.
Shaking my head, I took another deep gulp, letting the flavors roll over my tongue. “In my defense, I need this today. You’re already acting like a coked-up chipmunk and weird things are happening.”
She glared at me. Okay, she may have only been like three inches shorter than me but she was seriously sensitive about her height.
“Wait, are more weird ju-ju things happening with your powers?” she asked as she registered the end of my sentence.
“Nope,” I said. “Apparently, someone has made a claim on me.”
Her mouth dropped open with a loud pop and I slowly reached forward with two fingers and lifted her jaw back into place.
“Say what now?” she asked once she regained her composure.
I explained the weird conversation I’d had with Ryan during the only class I didn’t have with her, and she looked more and more like she would explode with each detail I added.
The elevator finally dinged, the doors sliding open as we entered the main floor of the mall, people giving us strange looks as they passed.
A group of human girls around our age, laden with arms full of bags passed us and instantly started to whisper.
“I’ve never seen them before, who are they?” a pretty brunette asked the group.
“They must be from that stuffy private school on the hill,” a blond replied with a hair flick.
“Wait, didn’t you apply there like four times, Brittany?” the short redhead asked.
Brittany went red. “Shut up, Emma.” She flicked her hair at us again, dragging her friends away with her as she tried to look important while Emi and I chuckled at them.
“So who do you think it is?” Emi asked as we made our way into one of the opulent stores.
“Huh?” I asked, momentarily forgetting the conversation we’d been having.
Emi rolled her eyes at me. “I bet it was Roman.”
I scoffed, “No way, he’s interested in the mystery girl, remember? And I don’t even like him that way.”
“Sure,” Emi drew the word out so long she had to take a breath in the middle. “Girl, the sexual tension between the two of you is so thick half the people in our group are waiting for you two to strip off and have sexy time in the middle of the cafeteria.”
She laughed loudly at my indignant spluttering before she grabbed my arm. “That’s t
he dress!”
Looking over in the direction she was staring dreamily at, I agreed wholeheartedly. The floor-length A-line gown swept down in graceful layers of beautiful dark blue chiffon that was dotted with gorgeous silver sparkles that reminded me of the night sky.
As Emi’s eyes sparkled longingly, I shoved down the last remnants of jealousy I’d felt, content to be happy for my bestie’s good fortune.
We hurried to the checkout as soon as we found the right size and she’d tried it on in the fitting room. I had to admit she looked freaking amazing in it and had to fight against a catch in my throat as I looked at my beautiful friend.
As soon as we bought the dress, we grabbed another coffee from the kiosk, the gangly, pimple-ridden teen behind the counter trying almost forcefully to give us our drinks for free as he stared at us with an open mouth. I refused, of course, making sure to give him an extra-large tip. The poor human obviously wasn’t used to the natural allure that vamps held, and I was not going to take advantage of that or risk getting him into trouble.
Emi snorted as we walked into the next store, showing me the receipt that held a handwritten haiku, a number, and a ‘call me’ with far too many exclamation points. I smiled as I tucked it into my purse. He may have not been my type, nor was he even the same species, but the poem was sweet and warmed my heart.
We found a nice, simple black gown for me in the fifth store we ventured into, and by this point, no matter how many caffeine-rich beverages my friend pushed at me, I was done.
We quickly grabbed the dress and matching accessories for our outfits as we noticed the store was about to close. I checked my watch, surprised that it was already four a.m. It was obviously a vamp-owned mall by the late hours it ran and expensive stores, but that didn’t mean that it was a twenty-four-hour one—no human would want to be out this late and it would definitely draw unwanted attention.
As we walked toward the elevator, a dimly lit window of an antique bookstore caught my eye. Taking a closer look, I noticed a large faded leather volume in the middle of the display. It looked old, like really old. I almost smelled the damp mustiness that seemed to follow old books wherever they went through the thick glass.
The strange symbol on the cover called to me—a strange pentagram with symbols at each point. It looked familiar, though I couldn’t think of where I’d seen it before. The title was so faded I barely made out the words Ancient Prophecies Through the Ages.
A guy in a security uniform walked over to us. He was pretty young, probably only a few years older than us, and seriously good-looking for a human. He stood at a little over six-feet tall with sandy brown hair that curled around his ears and warm brown eyes.
“Hey,” he said, his eyes darting from me so Emi and back, before swallowing loudly, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat. “The mall’s closing for the night, but you should definitely come back tomorrow if you want it.”
He nodded toward the book, and I smiled. “Thanks, do you think it will still be here?”
The guy snorted. “You kidding? Marty can’t get rid of the thing! People are starting to think it’s cursed or something.”
Emi raised her eyebrows. “So you want us to buy a cursed book?”
“No, people just don’t seem to be interested in it.” His denial was so vehement that we started to laugh so hard it took a moment for us to be able to talk.
“Thanks,” I said, breathing hard, “we’ll come back for it tomorrow.”
“Then I guess I can’t wait for tomorrow.” He grinned and gave us a playful wink. “I’m Shane, by the way.”
“Alex.” I placed my palm into his before turning with a wave.
“Oh my God!” Emi all but shrieked as the elevator doors clanked shut. “Did you see how into you that guy was? He was practically drooling.”
“I think I caught on.”
“You should totally give him your number tomorrow. Maybe seeing you with him will give Roman the push he needs to get his shit together and ask you out already.”
“Hell no,” I said quickly. “The guy was human. I’m not risking an innocent just so Roman might finally see me as more than his friend’s little sister.”
A vampire dating a human was a huge no-no in the vamp community. Years ago, a few of them broke the rules and bred with humans—some for love, others because they wanted to see if they could create a cure for our intolerance to sunlight. The children that resulted in these couplings almost caused us to reveal ourselves to humans.
The dhampir were even less stable in the sunlight, burning up from even secondary light. When they were shipped off to facilities to be studied or ended up being neutralized, the human parents revolted from the vamp community and tried to bring us down by becoming hunters.
Since then, all human/vampire relationships were punishable by death for the human and banishment for the vamp.
“I know,” Emi said, a twinkle in her eye, “but at least you finally admitted that you have a thing for Roman.”
I glared at her as she chuckled, dragging me from the elevator and into the dimly lit parking garage. Still giggling too much, we didn’t notice the two vamps sneaking up behind us until I heard a sickening thud and Emi let out a soft oof as she crumpled to the ground.
I whirled around sharply, my eyes darting around to find our attackers but I was too late. A dull pain bloomed in the back of my skull before black spots swallowed my vision and my knees buckled as I fell into unconsciousness.
13
Alex
I opened my eyes and light blinded me. I was standing in a bright, sunny clearing with trees all around me. For the life of me, I couldn’t remember how I got here, but peace and awe filled me from being in such a beautiful place.
I was also super relieved that I wasn’t bursting into flames since I’d never had the guts to test my sun-proof ability by taking a stroll in the middle of the day.
There was a rustling coming from the trees on the left side of the clearing, and I swung my gaze to it. A tall man with long, deep red hair that fell to his lower back, braided behind his ears, slipped through them. My eyes bugged out of my head as I noticed the long extended point that his ears tipped up in.
“The hell?” I breathed, itching to get a closer look at the guy who looked like a freaking elf from Lord of the Rings, before yelping and jumping back as a bolt of lightning hit the ground mere inches from where I’d been standing.
The brilliant light made my vision dance as I squinted up at the clear blue sky without a cloud in sight. Dropping my gaze, my jaw almost unhinged itself as I stared at a second beautiful man who now stood in the center of the scorch mark, his golden blond hair shining in the sun.
“Well,” the elf man spoke softly, yet his voice carried easily through the clearing, “it seemed you have not lost your flair for making an entrance.”
The two men chuckled softly, voices like smooth velvet as they clasped each other’s hands in greeting.
“Is it just the two of us so far?” the lightning guy asked, just as a third man entered the clearing.
I took in his tall, lithe stature, his pale skin and dark hair setting off dark green eyes that held a glint even from this distance. I breathed a sigh of relief as I realized he was definitely a vampire. The power that radiated off him both made my knees want to buckle, and yet it felt so familiar and comforting it soothed my racing mind for a moment.
“Tyrion, Orion,” the other man greeted the two who nodded back at him.
“Brother,” the elf man, Tyrion, spoke. “It has been too long, Lucian.”
I cleared my throat, making my presence known to the men, but they acted as if I wasn’t there. I walked forward, trying to tap the vamp on the shoulder and gasped as my hand went straight through him.
Yanking my hand away, I cradled it to my chest. It hadn’t necessarily hurt to go through the man, but there was a cold prickling sensation that shot through me when I’d touched him.
I was shocked at their clothes as
I studied the men. All sported long hair below their waist and were dressed in old-fashioned tunics which looked as if they were about to go to a renaissance fair or something.
I suddenly remembered the passage in the book I’d been reading. It was all about how the Fifth element granted the power to see both the future and the past, and since the only other explanation was that I was now a ghost, I figured that this was some kind of vision of the past.
This was different from the previous visions I’d had. The visions of the future had been jumbled images, forced into my mind, unable to make sense. The one where I had been in that dark place with the shadow creatures had been tangible. I may have been trapped there, but I was able to be seen, touched, hurt.
A shiver raced up my spine as I rubbed at my wrist—the bruise had faded weeks ago, but I still felt like it was there, a permanent brand under my skin. In this vision, it was like I was a ghost—I could see and hear, but I couldn’t really feel anything, nor could the men see me.
Now that I was up close, I was able to focus on the men around me, trying not to get distracted by the fact that I was little more than a creepy spectator, unable to communicate with them or let them know I was watching. As I concentrated on the men, I noticed how they all seemed to give off a similar wave of power, though each were slightly different. I only really felt a connection to the leader.
Okay, I thought to myself, I must be here for a reason. Hopefully, I’ll get to see something important.
I gasped in shock as the men passed through me, and suddenly, I was in the center of the circle they congregated in. Lucian, the vamp leader, started to speak.
“You both know why I called you here,” he said. Actually, I don’t, but whatever… “We must do something. If we keep letting our people fight each other, they will level the Earth with their wrath.”
“I agree.” Tyrion nodded gravely. “We never should have abandoned our quest to find the stones.”